Laser Induced Fluorescence Study of the E State of the Cesium Diatomic Molecule.

A systematic study of the laser induced fluorescence from the E state of the Cs(,2) molecule has been made. The values of the following physical quantities have been determined: (1) the predissociation rates of the E state to the cesium atomic states 7S and 5D, (2) the rate coefficients of the collisional excitation transfer from the E state to the 7S and 5D states, (3) the total and the radiative decay rates of the E state, (4) the branching ratios of the visible E band, the fluctuation band and the infrared cross fluorescence band. It has also been found that at least for cesium densities < 10('16)cm('-3) the principal collisional depopulation mechanism of the E state is the collision between Cs(,2)(E) and the ground state cesium atom which results in the excitation of other electronic states (the most likely ones are ('3)(PI)(,u), A('1)(SIGMA)(,u)('+) and ('3)(SIGMA)(,g)('+) states of the 6P+6S manifold) of the Cs(,2) molecule.